Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Eek! I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've posted. Things have been very busy around here.

I was in Houston for several days for a bridge tournament (which went really well!). I also met my parents in Philadelphia for my aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary celebration. Then we had the Super Bowl in Dallas and Robert and I went to a whirlwind of fun parties that culminated in the big game. Mixed in there we missed five days of school due to ice and snow, and I spent quite a bit of time getting ready for my annual Valentine luncheon.

My luncheon was last Friday. I'll be posting pictures from it soon. I also will be answering a fun "Five Things I Don't Leave My House Without" tag from my friend Hopsy at Monograms and Manicures. So stay tuned! I may get all of these posts completed before the end of 2011!

In the meantime, I'll start with some pictures from Super Bowl weekend.

First of all, we were corporate guests, which, let me tell you, is THE way to go at an event like this. Friday night the weekend kicked off with a fabulous steak dinner at Del Frisco's (a legendary steakhouse here in Dallas). Ed "Too Tall" Jones was at the party signing footballs and posing for pictures with all of the guests. Growing up as a huge Cowboys fan in the 70's, Robert was thrilled with this opportunity. We don't have our picture back yet, but I can attest that "Too Tall" lives up to his name. I think he is 6'9"!

Clint Black

Saturday night we attended a very fun cocktail party at a local art gallery that featured Clint Black as the entertainment. Clint was very personable and sang a lot of familiar favorites. Robert and I also enjoyed looking at the art on display, and we were even able to watch one of the artists create a new painting live.

Here the artist is beginning his painting

And here he is with the finished product

I liked this painting a lot. Robert didn't quite see the *need* for it

On Super Bowl Sunday we met at an area hotel and rode to the game in a Stretch Hummer limousine our hosts had arranged. It was WAY over the top and certainly not my style at all, but it definitely beat driving ourselves and paying an outrageous price for parking (we saw lots close to the stadium charging $700! We arrived very early so I never actually saw anyone pay that.).

Arriving at Cowboys Stadium

We attended an ESPN pregame party that was fun and then walked over to the stadium around 3:00 (kickoff was at 5:30).

Crowds near the stadium

Unfortunately the logistics for getting through security were awful, and we waited in line two hours and fifteen minutes before entering the stadium.

This mob was waiting to enter the security tent that you can see straight ahead. There was no queue line until about halfway up so it was bedlam with lots of pushing and grumbling until we got to the queue. Once we reached that, the line moved in a pretty orderly fashion. There were only two such security entrances into the stadium. Hard to imagine that no one considered how they were going to funnel 100,000+ people inside in a short amount of time!

Once we were inside I realized that the TCU band was playing on the field, so I popped into an aisle and took this picture for my favorite Horned Frog, Will

Our suite was very nice with a lot of good food! We had seats on a little balcony at the front of the suite. We were up high overlooking the side of the Packers' end zone, and we had a great view of the field and of the (very impressive) Jumbotron

The halftime show was absolutely amazing in person. I've heard mixed reviews from those who watched it on TV, but in real life it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Of course, I am someone who hears "Fergie" and thinks "Duchess of York," so my expectations of the music were nil. But the dancing and the lighted costumes the dancers wore were great

Lots of celebrating by the Packer faithful at the end of the game

As you might imagine, I was plumb exhausted at the end of the weekend.

Attending the Super Bowl was a fabulous experience and I am so appreciative Robert and I were able to go (especially in such style!). Having said that, there is a huge hassle factor involved, and I'm not sure that I ever need to go again. But I'm really glad I was able to attend once. And I am very happy for my blog friends who are Packers fans!

4 comments:

Wow! I bet you ARE tired! You had a very fun and very cool weekend! Thank you for posting all of the pics. My two BFFs from when I lived in Dallas were here visiting me that weekend. We had a ball and they escaped the snow! Eat some Mi Cocina for me on a night you're too tired to cook!

Pictured above, starting in upper left and moving clockwise:

Married for 27 years to Robert, three kids: Will (23), Vivian (20) and Dots (17) ~~~~
Majored in mathematics at SMU, taught elementary school for six years before Will was born, currently tutoring math ~~~~
Things I enjoy: playing duplicate bridge, working NY Times crossword puzzles, reading good books, entertaining, visiting with friends, planning trips, traveling, playing board games, spending time with family, cooking, keeping up with old friends ~~~ happy to correspond with other parents about raising a child with special needs

Note about Pictures

I unintentionally contaminated all of the pictures on my blog when I changed my privacy settings on Flickr. I am working backwards to correct them all, but it is quite a tedious procedure! If you encounter a post with error messages from Flickr where the pictures should be, then I haven't gotten to that post yet. Please let me know and I will update it immediately. Thanks for your patience!